Rob Kazmier steps down as Nature Coast head football coach

Sharks went 14-9 with two playoff appearances in his two seasons

Nature Coast football head coach Robert Kazmier holding his daughter Kennedy, 5, while his wife Carrie holds their son Sawyer, 3. / Robert Kazmier on X

Nature Coast football head coach Robert Kazmier announced on Friday that he had resigned after two seasons at the helm.

“Quick little announcement! I am stepping away from coaching again,” Kazmier said in a post on X. “This was never meant to be a long-term situation, but now is the perfect time to make this move. (Nature Coast) is absolutely loaded. Our 2026 class is outstanding and there is a ton of really special young talent coming up behind them including a handful of freshmen who started in both playoff games. I love you guys! Stick together.

“Over the last 21 months, we got the football account and equipment room to really good places also. In short, someone is going to be handed the keys to a Lamborghini and win a lot of football games, especially someone who loves to run the football. It should be a minimum of the Final Four or bust here next fall. The sky is the limit.

“My guy (Hernando County athletic director Dustin Kupcik) is going to work on getting the facilities right too! He’s doing great things for this county that were long overdue. As for me, I will still be at NCT (best school in the county) and I will still be helping kids get to college (best in the area), just on my own schedule.

“But it is definitely time to prioritize my family again. My two beautiful children and their smoking hot mom are too amazing to spend so much time away from. Especially for pennies per hour with the constantly increasing demands. Eventually someone better !!! Thanks everyone!”

Kazmier, a Nature Coast alum, became head coach in 2023 and led the Sharks to an 8-3 mark with a playoff appearance. This season, the team went 6-6 including a postseason victory over Mulberry.

“I’ve been batting it around all season actually,” Kazmier said of stepping down. “Time constraints, having a family and coaching and everything. This season had its ups and downs, things like that. Just kind of makes you reflect.

“I just think it’s time. I’m all about leaving it in a good place for somebody to come in and be successful, and in turn the kids are successful. I try to take the adult stuff out of it. What’s best for the kids, that’s really what this comes down to.”

He was officially an assistant coach at Nature Coast from 2007-13, but Kazmier had long established himself on the county football scene for his ability to promote athletes seeking college scholarships. He ended up as an assistant under former Nature Coast head coach Mark Lee at Weeki Wachee and under Bill Vonada at Hernando.

In 2018, he took over as head coach for the Leopards when Vonada stepped down. He went 12-9 with a playoff appearance in two seasons, but resigned following the birth of his daughter Kennedy.

When the Nature Coast job opened up 2023, Kazmier was initially on the hiring committee. Eventually he ended up being the one hired.

Family played a large part in his decision to resign. He and his wife Carrie now have two young children, 5-year-old Kennedy and 3-year-old Sawyer, and Kazmier noted that it has been a difficult year personally due to the death of his father.

However, he’ll remain a teacher at Nature Coast and plans to continue helping athletes find college opportunities.

“I think you rate the success on the success of the kids, not on wins and losses,” Kazmier said. “You look at how many kids went off to college last year and how many are being successful, and I think that’s probably one of the best classes. A lot of those kids went out and played immediately.

“That’s how I rate my success. That’s how I got into coaching, is by getting kids into college. I feel it’s my strength and one of my priorities, and my primary reasons for coaching is to help kids get to the next level. When you look at it that way, I feel it was definitely very successful.”

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